


Night Scare

by coolasdicks



Series: Empath!AU [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Empath!Michael, Gen, M/M, Start to Sink, empath!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 17:56:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1787911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolasdicks/pseuds/coolasdicks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: </p>
<p>"AHOT6 (Michael-Centric): Loved reading Start to Sink and I was hoping you could write a follow-up to this story. Specifically, what Michael’s attacks looked like from the other’s points of view. To get even more specific, his last attack (the nightmare) seemed to be life-threatening and I was hoping you could write what that looked like from (maybe) Geoff’s point of view. He just seemed to really be upset with it the most. :)"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Night Scare

**Author's Note:**

> shoutout to greenpuma88 from tumblr for the prompt

Dinner was quiet.

The gentle clatter of silverware against only five plates was oddly subdued, as was the atmosphere. Geoff could tell no one felt like talking, including himself, so the only words spoken were the muffled requests to pass a certain dish.

Geoff sighed into his drink, eyes falling half-closed as he took a long, much needed sip of alcohol. Though he was already on his third or fourth glass, it had yet to do anything for his frayed nerves.

The past week in general had done nothing to soothe him. In the days that they’d been home from the convention, Gavin and Ray had held a hope that the somber mood around the house was going to improve. Geoff supposed that perhaps telling them his fears had been a bad idea, because now  _no one_ wanted to face the newest issue head-on.

It made Geoff sick to think of. Were it just a simple case of mind-reading, he probably would not have been so unnerved. But the thought of mentally pushing himself on someone was just as uncomfortable as the thought of physically doing so. It was an invasion of privacy. No, it was more than that. It was invasion of morals. Trust. If he really was forcing himself upon Michael, Geoff was prepared to back off completely.

The future of the relationship was suddenly hanging in the balance. Geoff wasn’t sure who was to blame, but his subconscious was leaning towards himself. He had been nursing feelings for Michael since Jack had first contacted the hotheaded man over email. His videos had been misleading – Michael was  _adorable_. He was feisty and eager, sure, but more importantly, he was considerate and devoted. Without any effort at all, Michael was the perfect piece of the puzzle to Geoff’s relationship. The spot that he filled was crucial.

Geoff didn’t know what the hell he was going to do if he actually had been projecting his feelings onto Michael.

He snuffed his lingering thoughts as he heard Michael shuffle by the kitchen, but the redhead didn’t come in and sit down with them. The door slammed loudly.

The rest of dinner passed wordlessly.

\---

Troubling thoughts were Geoff’s lullaby later that night. They’d bloomed from an already nagging seed of doubt into full-blown, gut gnawing guilt when he’d waited behind Ray in the doorway as the brunette cautiously called to Michael, who was silent and wrapped up in the comforter. When the redhead didn’t reply, Ray glanced over his shoulder to Geoff for a go-ahead, which he tiredly gave.

He was slow to drag himself from the bathroom to the bed when everyone was finally ready for bed. These days, they were all going to bed at the same time. Each day typically ended with exhaustion now.

Even now, it was heavy in his skin as he scrubbed his face with cold water. His reflection glared hauntingly back at him as he snatched a towel from the rack and patted dry.

He could tell that the others were just as restless as he was when he finally slid under the covers. Ray whispered against his cheek a request to trade places, and then after he did, Jack was asking the same thing. Sighing, Geoff allowed them to pick their spots, until finally they were settling down. Geoff swallowed thickly when he realized that he was only two spaces away from Michael, who hadn’t opened his eyes the entire time. Jack lay in between them.

He fell into a doze quickly as a result of the ever-present fatigue plaguing the group. Only vaguely aware of the occasional roll or soft grunt of the other occupants of the bed, Geoff was soon deep into dream-land, easily able to tune out all but the pleasantly illogical sounds of his fast-paced dreams.

Something changed around two.

It was unnamable. He didn’t try to label it – he didn’t even try to fight it. At first it was foreign and threatening, but something felt… tentative. In a way, it was asking for permission, and even at his most vulnerable, Geoff found it simple to say yes.

Not much changed. His dreams weren’t interrupted and continued on in their normal, sporadic form, though he couldn’t completely ignore the presence of a shadow lurking in the back of his mind. It didn’t bother him, nor did it alter any of the content. But it watched him.

It kept him company for about an hour before it slipped away. Geoff felt the absence instantly, the corner in which it’d been sitting having gone cold. He chased after it briefly, but it was forgotten almost instantly as his unconscious state steamrolled over his rational thinking. There was a distant sense of yearning that remained, and soon the dreams changed to reflect his subconscious longing. Oddly enough, it brought to mind images of Michael. Why was Mich–

Someone shook him awake. Geoff blinked rapidly, the dissipating dream vanishing from his memory as quick as the breath of air he took in next. Confused and disorientated, Geoff grumbled a curse and licked his lips. “Wh-Wha?”

“Geoff!” Jack hissed, voice loud in the otherwise silent room. The suppressed panic in the bearded man’s voice sent a jolt into Geoff’s brain, and he was struggling to sit up within seconds.

“What? What’s wrong?”

The question was rendered unnecessary as soon as Geoff looked around. While Ray, Ryan, and Gavin were sleeping peacefully next to him, Jack was practically glued to his side in an attempt to give distance to Michael, who was curling in on himself as he lay on his back. As the two watched, the redhead’s body was racked with tension, the hands that had been gripping his head moving to pull at his hair. His hips shifted to arch his back, and the sheets slid off his body.

“Michael!” Geoff practically climbed over Jack to get to him. He grabbed Michael’s hands and pried his fingers open to release the abused, curly strands. The moon was the only light in the room, but it was enough to reveal Michael’s tightly closed lids and deathly pale face. His teeth were bared, but not a single sound was escaping his throat.

Geoff couldn’t shake the feeling that he was trying to scream.

“Michael!” he yelled, startling the three sleeping men awake. Geoff paid their scrambling no mind as he wrestled with Michael, trying to pull his forearms down and out of the way. Heart in his throat, Geoff already knew what was wrong by the way Michael was desperately trying to protect his head.

“Do something!” Gavin was yelling in the background. Geoff had no idea who he was talking to. Michael’s jaw suddenly snapped shut with an audible crack.

“Do what?! It’s not physical, it’s his mind!” Ray shouted back, voice pitched higher than normal with fear. “We’re the problem!”

“And if we leave?” Ryan asked in a shaky voice. He sounded the calmest amongst them.

“We’re not fucking leaving him,” Geoff growled out, voice strained from both emotion and strain – Michael was putting up one hell of a fight. The redhead was fighting him at every turn, twisting his shoulders in an attempt to elbow Geoff in the face and jerking his hips to buck Geoff off. “We’re not leaving him to suffer alone.”

One of Michael’s elbows succeeded and clipped him right in the mouth. Geoff, still dazed slightly from sleep, hesitated, and in the space of silence that was left, Michael’s small whimper became deafeningly loud.

Jack jumped forward to aid him, but Geoff shook his head. He directed his mind in a new tactic to helping Michael.

_Michael, it’s okay._

Tasting blood on the inside of his lip, Geoff heard the three in the background begin to argue once more. Jack sat next to him, a calming hand on the tattooed man’s shoulder, and the two watched as Michael thrashed and seized, body kicking into overdrive. Geoff sat firmly in the middle of Michael’s waist to avoid being hit again, but maintained an iron grip around Michael’s wrists, just trying to prevent him from tearing out his own hair. There was nothing else they could do –

For a long, dreadful moment, Geoff thought that he had accidentally broken one of Michael’s bones. It took two seconds to realize that that hadn’t been the case.

It was much worse.

All motion in the room slammed to a stop, noise disappearing as if it’d been yanked out from under them. The resounding crack that had boomed loud in his ears just seconds ago was echoing in his skull, but Geoff instinctively knew it hadn’t been a sound wave he’d heard. It had come from Michael. Michael’s  _mind_.

The mental silence that followed was terrifying, but the way that Michael’s body abruptly went limp was  _heart-stopping_.

“Michael?” Geoff breathed, releasing the redhead’s wrists immediately. They fell to rest on Michael’s chest before sliding off and landing in the pool of sheets next to him. The light of the moon illuminated Michael’s pale features, his closed eyes, his slightly parted lips. The way his chest was motionless.

_No. No, no, no._

“Michael.” Geoff grabbed his shoulders and shook him roughly. Probably too rough, enough to hurt his neck certainly, but it didn’t matter, because it didn’t  _work_. Michael’s neck and head were completely lax, the muscles having stilled when his mind did. Geoff’s heart rate climbed and climbed the longer he searched for Michael’s consciousness’s presence. By the time he admitted that Michael was at the very least unconscious, there were tears building in his eyes.

The moment a sob erupted from Geoff’s throat, pure chaos broke out in the room.

“Call 9-1-1!” Ryan was screaming before realizing he had a phone of his own. He ran to the bedside table and ripped it from its charger, dialing the numbers and holding it to his ear with one shaky hand. “We – we need an ambulance!” he cried into the receiver, rattling off their address with lightning speed.

Gavin crawled onto the bed slowly, mouth dropped open in shock. Ray approached the side of the bed with reverence, eyes wide and glassy. Geoff could understand.

It was surreal; Michael was completely lifeless in his arms. His chest didn’t rise. His eyes didn’t flutter. His mind wasn’t broadcasting.

He wasn’t in there.

Jack’s hand disappeared from Geoff’s shoulder to cover the bearded man’s mouth in choked horror. Deep breathes were haltingly being forced up his windpipe as he desperately tried to hold in sobs. Geoff simply stared, open-mouthed. Tears ran warm trailed over his cheeks and dripped slowly onto Michael’s chest.

Gavin shuffled to sit next to Jack, reaching out a hand to take hold of Michael’s. Gavin’s eyes went flat when Michael’s fingers didn’t so much as twitch under his grip, but the Brit didn’t let go. If anything, he tightened his hand. Ray similarly took Michael’s other hand, raising it to his mouth and stroking the skin. He murmured into the back of Michael’s hand and let the tears freefall from his face.

_No, no, no_.

“Michael,” Geoff gasped through a sob. He wormed a hand underneath Michael to cup his neck, lifting slightly. Michael’s head hung backwards, mouth falling open more. Geoff wrapped his other hand around Michael’s waist and hefted him up into his lap, heart hammering in his chest as he pressed his face into the skin of Michael’s neck.

The position was uncomfortable and stiff, but Geoff couldn’t find it in himself to move. He curled into his lover, rubbing his tearstained eyes into the soft skin of Michael’s neck and hugged the listless body to his chest.

Words poured out of his mouth. Pleas, whimpers, fuck, he even cried for Michael to  _please, just hold on, Michael, please, they’re on their way, just hold on –_

Ryan was practically howling orders into the phone behind them, pacing around the room as if he was personally making the journey. The words flowed in one ear and out the other, completely useless to Geoff, who was having trouble breathing. His lungs seemed to be trembling. God, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening. He couldn’t be holding his dead boyfriend. Michael didn’t just have a stroke in the middle of the night. What were Geoff’s last words to him? He couldn’t remember their last kiss –

“ _God, Michael, just please be okay!_ ”

Something rose and pressed against Geoff’s chest.

Brain tumbling to a stop, Geoff’s choked cries died on his tongue. Before he could process what had just happened, a quiet, familiar voice was saying, “You’re hurting my hair, Geoff.”

“Michael,” Geoff gasped, a head rush nearly knocking him out. Ryan’s speed of speech into the phone picked up as he told the emergency dispatch that Michael had woken up. Geoff’s hands loosened and shifted to cradle Michael’s head so he could search the redhead’s eyes. They were open,  _open_ and peering at him with confusion and exhaustion. “Michael, Michael –”

Geoff stroked Michael’s cheekbone and smiled weakly, even as Michael’s eyelids fluttered.

“Geoff,” he croaked. Geoff’s insides warmed with the clarity. Michael sounded good, he sounded lucid. “Geoff – I’m okay –”

“Oh, god,” Geoff said shakily, bending to knock foreheads with the younger. “Michael, you have no idea…”  _how fucking scary that was._ “Are you okay? Can you breathe alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Michael said. He shifted and discomfort clouded his expression. He grunted. “Geoff, can you get off? My back hurts.”

Geoff quickly lowered Michael back to the bed, watching with a small grin as Michael sighed and stretched out. Gavin and Ray had released his hands and the two were now circling around Michael like a hawk.

Pursing his lips and trying in vain to calm his pounding heart, Geoff reached a hand forward to feel Michael’s temperature. It was a stupid, jittery habit; strokes didn’t fucking cause fevers. He knew that. But it made him feel better, and the way Michael shifted slightly to push into his palm brought his blood pressure back down.

“Are you alright?” he asked again. “Do you need water or –?”

Michael licked his lips, voice light when he spoke. “I’m okay, I’m good.”

“Can you understand me alright?” Geoff double checked, sharing a glance with Gavin, who was looking lightheaded with happiness. The Brit looked back at him encouragingly, smiling slightly and reaching over to rub the back of his neck.

“Yeah, yeah. No brain damage,” Michael assured them. Geoff exhale an unhealthy amount of worry. “Don’t worry. No brain damage.”

“Good, good,” Geoff said slowly. His throat tightened. “I thought –  _we_ thought –”

“I know, I know,” Michael blurted with a shake of the head. “I’m sorry – I should’ve gone to sit on the couch. I was – I was listening to you dream.”

Geoff’s brow furrowed in bewilderment. “What?” he said, utterly confused.

“I had a nightmare,” Ray suddenly whispered, face ghostly white as he looked up from Michael’s face. Geoff could see his eyes glimmering with tears.

As Michael babbled some nonsensical words, Geoff shook his head in confusion before a spark of recognition registered in the back of his mind. He couldn’t remember the specifics of his dreams but something had been different tonight. Had that been–?

He shushed Michael before the redhead could finish. “It’s okay, Ray’s fine, everyone’s fine,  _you’re_ fine. We’re all fine, we’re all fine.” Just saying the words made him feel better. He felt tension bleeding from his shoulders, even as he searched Michael’s eyes for a hint of unease or discomfort. Russet orbs stared back at him, tired and red-rimmed but intelligent.

“We’re all fine,” Geoff breathed into Michael’s neck as he pulled him into a last hug before the ambulance got there.

 


End file.
